


Ash-Maker, Soldier Boy

by grimdigee



Series: It All Ends Here [2]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Enemies to Friends, Everyone thinks Zuko is dead, F/M, Friendship, Good Ozai, Hurt/Comfort, It's mostly hinted at, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Presumed Dead, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, Zuko is confused, kind of, they weren't enemies for very long though
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-07-14
Packaged: 2021-03-05 03:06:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25267318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grimdigee/pseuds/grimdigee
Summary: “Well.. What is your name? And it does matter by the way, I can't keep calling you 'Ash-maker'.. Unless Ash is your name.” The Firebender laughed, “No, it's not Ash, my name is Zuko.” Sokka smiled at him.“Well, I'll see you again Zuko.”Or, Zuko makes a friend, Azula is planning and Ozai is starting to break.Also I highly recommend reading the first part, otherwise this would make very little sense.
Relationships: Ozai/Ursa (Avatar), Sokka & Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Zuko (hinted)
Series: It All Ends Here [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1825282
Comments: 11
Kudos: 115





	Ash-Maker, Soldier Boy

**Author's Note:**

> I do want to add, these are mostly unedited, so if there's a typo, or bad pacing, or generally bad grammar, that's my fault, sorry :')

Zuko sighed softly, the warm puff of air heating his face lightly before diminishing, he shivered, the air around him frigid and stale, his hands came up to wrap around his torso but he jerked them away as soon as they made contact with his skin, the searing cold made him reflexive, and he had to take a moment to gather his thoughts before looking down.

Large metal cuffs tangled around his wrists, the cold air piercing through them and making them very painful to wear, Zuko gulped, turning to inspect the rest of the room, it was dark, but he could tell he was still in the North Pole, unfortunately he couldn't make out much else.

Tugging on the chains, Zuko determined there was no way he was escaping this, so instead he dejectedly slumped against the wall at his side, which was just as chilly as the rest of the room, although there wasn't much else he could do, considering the entire area around him was biting into his flesh.

Zuko hated the cold.

…

Sokka paced up and down the length of the hallway, sneering at the guards that passed him, Katara rushed up to his side, grabbing his shoulder and whipping him around to face her.

“Sokka! I told you to stop hours ago!” Sokka sighed, “I'm sorry Katara, I just... I can't handle acting like everything is okay when there are... Ash-makers here!” His sister scoffed.

“Please, the surviving soldiers are locked away where they can't hurt anyone.” The Waterbender said, grabbing Sokka by the wrist, “Look, just come see for yourself, then hopefully you'll stop this nonsense and come up for dinner.” Katara dragged him to one of the cells at the far end of the icy hallway, she motioned for the guards to open it, which they did.

Stepping into the cell, Sokka blinked in surprise, there was a... Boy, couldn't be much older than Sokka, with gorgeous ebony hair and pale white skin, the boy slowly turned his gaze to meet Sokka's and his heart dropped slightly when those furious golden eyes peered at him through the strands of hair that cascaded down his bruised face.

Sokka sucked in a breath, “How... How old is he?” He asked, voice trembling, Katara shrugged, “Does it matter? He's Fire Nation.” She stated coldly, Sokka and the boy stared at each other before Katara grabbed his wrist and started pulling her brother back out of the cell, he started to follow but a small, quiet voice, stopped him.

Sokka turned back to the boy, confusion written in his features, “What was that?” He asked, the boy was wracked with tremors, huffing out a breath, he repeated himself, “I'm sixteen...” The water tribe boy couldn't believe his ears, were they really recruiting teenagers? That's madness!

Katara was about to speak up before Sokka shooed her away, “Please sis, give me fifteen more minutes, then I'll come for dinner.” Katara shrugged, “Fine, just.. Don't get too friendly.” She shut the cell door behind her, guards still posted at the sides to let Sokka out when he needed.

Said teen whirled around to stare at the Fire Nation soldier again, “What's your name?” The boy choked out a weak laugh, “Does it matter?” He said, brushing the hair out of his face, to no avail, “I never thought being in a cell for just a few hours could drive someone insane so quickly, but I'm starting to understand.” Sokka frowned, “Why.. Why are you even here? I thought you had to be older to fight in a war.” He didn't comment on the insanity thing, determining that it was just an over exaggeration.

The Ash-maker paused, “My family is.. High Ranked, I was able to get a ship so I could come here with a crew, I didn't trust Zhao to handle this battle properly, and I was right.” Sokka's brow furrowed, “But.. You still lost.” The prisoner smiled humorlessly, “Because I got here too late, and by that point Zhao had already gotten to the koi spirits.” The water tribe boy nodded solemnly.

“I just... Why did you attack in the first place?” At that he paused again, “Well, Zhao wanted to kill a spirit, and take out the Avatar while he was at it.. I just came to make sure he wasn't being an idiot.” Sokka shook his head, “I meant more like.. Why did you start the war?”

There wasn't a response, the boy was still shivering but he seemed to be thinking hard on that question, eventually he finally spoke, “I don't know.” Sokka sighed, “Well.. What is your name? And it does matter by the way, I can't keep calling you 'Ash-maker'.. Unless Ash is your name.” The Firebender laughed, “No, it's not Ash, my name is Zuko.” Sokka smiled at him.

“Well, I'll see you again Zuko.” He said, before leaving the cell, not wanting to anger Katara anymore than he needed.

…

Azula snuck through the halls of Mai's house, the gloomy girl was apparently bored out of her mind, and Azula needed all the help she could get if she was going to pull this off.

Slipping into her friend's room, she spied the girl laying in bed, Azula smiled, “Mai... Mai!” She whisper-yelled, the girl sat up, blinking in surprise, or at least, the most surprise that Mai could even feel, “Azula? What are you doing here?” The fire Princess shook her head.

“No time to explain, do you want to go on a little... Ahem, adventure?” Mai's lip curled into a small grin, “Anything to get out of here.” 

Azula shot her a smirk, “Good, let's go get Ty Lee.”

...

Sokka had been down to visit Zuko many more times over the last few weeks, but this time when he opened the door, Zuko knew something was wrong, the serious look on his friend's... 'Are we friends?' Zuko shook the thought from his head, it wasn't important now, his 'friend' looked really down and he needed answers.

“We... We're leaving tomorrow.” Sokka said, answering Zuko's question before he could even ask, “...Oh.” Was all he could manage, turning his gaze to the floor and going silent.

Sokka huffed, shuffling closer and leaning down so he could whisper to Zuko, “I'm busting you out of here.” Zuko's eyes widened, “Wait.. How do you expect to get me out of here? You travel with a bison, kind of hard to hide someone on that thing, and besides, I'm not leaving without Uncle!” He whisper-shouted back.

Sokka pouted, “Zuko.. I didn't want to tell you this but.. I looked for your Uncle, I couldn't find anyone that fit your description here, either he escaped a long time ago with some other Fire Nation soldiers or he's...” He waved a hand around, Zuko picked up on the meaning instantly, taking in a shaky breath, he gulped.

“Are you sure..?” He asked, Sokka nodded, Zuko shut his eyes, not being able to handle the idea of his Uncle Iroh dying, “He.. He probably escaped, spirits I hope he did...” Zuko choked out.

His friend enveloped him in a hug, “I'm sure he did, from what you told me he sounds like a capable man.” Zuko nodded into his shoulder, “Yeah..... Um.. So... You're busting me out..?” Sokka grinned.

“I'll figure out a way, I'm not leaving you here.”

I think it was safe to say Sokka got too friendly, Katara would NOT be pleased, but Sokka didn't really care.

…

Ozai paced the length of his office, he felt like he hadn't slept in years, and now with his brother, son, AND daughter all gone, he felt so alone, since Zuko's death Ursa had shut him out as well, so he couldn't even turn to her, and despite being the best husband he could, sometimes he had trouble knowing how to help others, that was made even harder when he was having it just as bad.

He slammed a fist into the wall, growling slightly, before falling to his knees, “Spirits... Zuko, Iroh... I'm so sorry... I failed you.” He whispered, head sinking into his hands.

…

Zuko sighed, he didn't think he would be so happy to see snow of all things, but being in a cell for a whole month really does something to you, he turned to look at Sokka, “Still think this is a good idea?” Striking blue eyes turned to look at him, a smirk crossing his friend's face, “You know it.”

**Author's Note:**

> Oh, also, I did wanna say, just in case it wasn't clear, Zuko doesn't have his scar in this, since Ozai is a good person there was no one there to give it to him, just to clear that up.
> 
> Also sorry I'm a commawhore, I just,,,,,,, love,,,,,, commas,,,,,,,,,,,,, Will be editing this later, I might just do it after all the parts are finished and combine them all into one big fic.


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